On the Schleicher–Love's problem

Abstract This paper contributes to the existing literature of the classical solution to Love's contact problem. This study addresses the classical problem of Love's contact problem, a topic first explored over 100 years ago, highlighting its continued relevance and the new contributions made by this work. The paper considers the problem of an elastic half‐space loaded on a rectangular‐shaped surface. General formulae for determining the displacements of any point in a half‐space were obtained in a different form known in literature. New relationships between displacements in the xy ‐plane are not found in the literature and were derived. Formulae are given, in five different forms, for determining the maximum displacements of a half‐space loaded uniformly over the area of a rectangle for any quotient of the lengths of the sides of the rectangle. This paper complements the existing literature on the classic solution of Love's contact problem.